1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for management of services within a network of computer systems and more specifically to services for server failover within such systems.
2. Description of the related art
An organization often requires that certain services that support the organization's mission be available throughout the day. Services may be provided through applications executing on servers connected to the organization's internal network, such as, for example, an intranet. Interruption of the service may adversely affect the operation of the organization. A redundant server system may be used to minimize any service interruption. A redundant server system includes a primary server and a backup server that are both configured to execute the application providing the service. In normal operation, the service is provided by the application executing on the primary server. If the service is interrupted, the backup server can provide the service by starting the application on the backup server. The process of switching from the primary server to the backup server is commonly referred to as a failover. The process of switching between the primary and backup server may automated by installing software agents on the primary and backup servers that execute the failover process on their respective servers.
A large organization may have tens or hundreds of services that must have high availability and require backup servers and procedures to execute the switch when required. Moreover, the organization may use a variety of servers and applications that each requires a different shutdown or startup procedure. Therefore, there remains a need for systems and methods that can manage failover operations across the organization's network from anywhere on the network.